A man has zakat-eligible wealth, so he sets it aside from his wealth, then it is lost. What is required of him?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : The Shaykh, may Allah reward you. A man has zakat-eligible wealth, and when the lunar year of possession passed, he set aside the right of the poor from his wealth, but it was lost before he delivered it to its recipients?
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : So what is obligatory upon him?
The Shaykh : It is obligatory upon him to guarantee it, because the poor have not taken ownership of what he set aside. For this reason, if he set aside the zakat—for example, if he had forty sheep and set aside one sheep for the zakat—then he decided to give another one instead, there is no harm, because it is his property. If that sheep is lost, it is obligatory upon him to pay the zakat with another sheep.
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : So what is obligatory upon him?
The Shaykh : It is obligatory upon him to guarantee it, because the poor have not taken ownership of what he set aside. For this reason, if he set aside the zakat—for example, if he had forty sheep and set aside one sheep for the zakat—then he decided to give another one instead, there is no harm, because it is his property. If that sheep is lost, it is obligatory upon him to pay the zakat with another sheep.